Please be seated.
Hello, Your Honor.
Hello.
This is the case of Hendricks v. Pacheco.
Thank you, Jerome. Good day, everyone.
AUDIENCE: Good day.
Ms. Hendricks, you were once in a committed relationship
with the defendant, Mr. Pacheco.
Now you say the doubts about
your six-month-old son, Isaiah's, paternity
has destroyed your relationship
and torn the rest of your family apart.
Yes, Your Honor.
JUDGE LAKE: Now, Mr. Pacheco.
You say your doubts about paternity began
when you overheard a conversation
with Ms. Hendricks' family member
and another man who claimed to be the baby's father.
Yes, Your Honor.
AUDIENCE: Oh!
JUDGE LAKE: Furthermore, you recently moved out
of the home you once shared and will not return unless
DNA results prove
little Isaiah is indeed your son.
Yes, Your Honor.
Ms. Hendricks, please share with the court
how this all unraveled for you and Mr. Pacheco.
Um, well, he's listened to rumors
that an ex-boyfriend is possibly
the father of our son.
Um, the rumors are coming from my brother.
Which is with him.
Um, we met about two years ago.
Uh, we met online.
About three months after,
um, talking online,
we met in person.
We moved in together within like four months
of meeting each other.
It was like love at first sight.
Like I, I think we both fell in love
over the telephone,
before we even met.
AUDIENCE: Aw.
So, you all were in a real relationship.
HENDRICKS: Yes.
You had love for one another.
Was it a committed relationship?
Yeah, we was together every day.
Like, we... We was never apart, we was inseparable, every day.
And so, at some point you realized you are pregnant?
Yes, and we was both happy.
It was like, very exciting.
Like, the whole pregnancy.
Up until I was about seven months pregnant
when my brother and him had a conversation,
and my brother told him that he possibly may not be the father
because he has seen the ex around.
AUDIENCE: Oh.
PACHECO: Uh...
Before the ex situation, I heard her over,
talking on the phone with a family member.
The family member was telling her,
"Uh, your ex wants me to tell you to tell the baby
"that, oh, I...
HENDRICKS: That was...
"that I love him, I wanna be there for him.
That was after...
"If I go to jail, please keep in contact with me."
I was pregnant.
And all those type of things.
In ways, I feel heartbroken.
And then I was like...
That's what started giving me more doubts.
As I got more doubts about the situation, you know,
Mr. Hendricks here, that's on the side of me,
you know, he starts telling, one day we went out.
No, that's not true.
PACHECO: And...
(CHUCKLES)
You know, he starts telling me things about
that he's seen the ex-boyfriend,
you know, at the house
or while at the time that me and her was talking.
And that for me, it broke my heart, you know, because I do love her.
You know, I do wanna be with her,
and I do wanna... Hopefully that
the tests do come back saying that he is my son.
You know what I am saying, because
when I got to see him be born.
HENDRICKS: That's not true.
You know, I got to see him be born.
Seriously.
That's the first time, you know, it's my first son,
I don't got no kids, 26-years-old.
(STAMMERS) And this is really breaking us apart.
There's a rumor here, a rumor there, a rumor over there.
No, Your Honor, there was a rumor when I was
seven months pregnant, that's when it came from my own brother,
that he thought that he was possibly not the father.
And then we got past that, like,
he left me when I was seven months pregnant.
The whole preg... the rest of my pregnancy I was by myself.
Um, which was very depressing.
Um... So...
PACHECO: Okay, then why, then why...
When I let him be in the delivery room.
He wanted to be in that delivery room.
He came to the hospital with me. I didn't see him
since I was seven months into the...
When I went into labor.
He was in the room with me.
He's seen the baby be born
AUDIENCE: Aw.
and he cut the umbilical cord
and everything...
PACHECO: Yeah, but then after that her...
a family member of hers says,
"Oh, that's the mailman's baby."
HENDRICKS: No.
You know, that for me...
While you were at the hospital?
PACHECO: No,
that was when we had a little, a family gathering at Mrs. Hendricks' house.
HENDRICKS: That's because my son has blue eyes and light hair.
And then her family member came and said...
HENDRICKS: And light skin.
PACHECO: "Oh, that's the mailman's baby."
My reaction when they said that, I was mad.
I walked out.
I didn't know what to do.
And then her ex sat there.
Whatever time it was, for him to say,
"Oh, that's my son, I love him,
"I can't wait to see him, when I get out of jail
"I want to... Can I keep in contact with you?"
That's what really hurt me the most.
Why do you wanna be with someone that's in jail all the time.
What future do he got?
HENDRICKS: And he's talking about an ex
that I haven't seen since I got with him this summer.
Me and him got together, is when I cut it off with the ex.
I haven't seen him since then.
Um, I was talking to a close family member on the phone,
on speaker phone, because I was doing the dishes, I was busy.
So, the person was like, "Oh, well I've seen such and such
"and he thinks that he is Isaiah's dad."
And I'm like, "What?"
Like, I was shocked.
And then he overhears it
and he hears me responding back
and I'm like, "I don't know why he would even think that."
(STAMMERS) This just came out of nowhere.
Like, I was in total shock.
So you think your ex just made this up?
HENDRICKS: Um...
Yeah, because I guess he said that
when he went to jail, I was the last girl that he was dating,
and then when he got out of jail,
he's like, "How is Angela doing?" And then to my mother.
And my mother's like, "Oh, she had a baby, blah blah blah."
And then he was like, "Oh."
Then he went around telling everyone that he thinks the baby is his.
I don't understand where that would come from...
PACHECO: But...
And anyway because I haven't even seen this guy.
Your Honor, but for me to,
saying about her mother, her mother was the one that gave the dude the number.
Her ex, the number, to get in contact back and forth
all about the baby situation.
For me...
Oh!
For me, it really bothered me and it hurt me,
you know what I'm saying, because at one point
I felt like her mother was a mother to me.
And how she's gonna come and, you know, stab me in the back
and gave, and gave her...
She did not mean no harm.
You don't understand how I really feel though.
Okay, I do understand how you feel...
But maybe my mom didn't know...
You don't.
You don't, this being my first baby
you don't even know how I feel, though.
Yeah, I do know.
You don't.
Because it breaks my heart, because
when I was pregnant and when our son was born,
he didn't sign the birth certificate.
He was there when I did, you know, labor, um...
Also too... Your Honor, can I speak?
Also too, when she was seven months pregnant,
me and her got into
a little like,
disagreement at the hospital, right?
She gonna go ahead and say, like...
We got into a verbal discussion
so I got kicked out of the hospital that day.
When I got kicked out of the hospital...
You got kicked out of the hospital because
you were being rude to me.
I wasn't doing nothing to you.
PACHECO: I couldn't...
When she was seven months pregnant, she came out and say,
"Oh, you might not be the dad of baby Isaiah."
And for her to say...
So, that actually
came out of your mouth?
PACHECO: Her mouth.
JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Hendricks. You said that?
All right. Yes. I did.
JUDGE LAKE: You know, we hear women say
in this courtroom all the time.
When you get angry and you tell a man that this isn't their child,
you can't un-ring that bell.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
You rang it.
Now what's in his mind?
HENDRICKS: Yeah, I understand.
Along with all the other things everybody else is saying.
PACHECO: And another thing too, Your Honor...
Well, the thing about...
It just came about, a couple months ago.
I tried and...
The baby, you know, got released from the hospital,
whatever, I tried... When I got kicked out
I tried to sign the birth certificate.
If you see, his name is Isaiah Hendricks,
it's not Isaiah Pacheco.
HENDRICKS: I cannot make him a Pacheco, if you wasn't there.
And for me...
Yeah, but every time I called you and I told you to...
For us to make an appointment,
How am I supposed...
you never wanted to do it.
Okay, but you have to call...
You always had excuses for everything.
It's like a process.
PACHECO: You had excuses for everything.
It's not something...
I can't just call and be like, oh, I want to change his name.
Look, look how...
JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr. Pacheco,
let me understand this, let me understand this.
You say, you... your intention, the day you were in the hospital
was to sign that birth certificate.
PACHECO: Yes.
What happened that prevented you?
You got thrown out?
Yeah, I got kicked out...
JUDGE LAKE: Because you all had a disagreement.
It was a petty disagreement.
I told him, "Quiet
It was... She kicked me out.
"or you'll end up leaving," and he kept going.
Like, I got forced out of the hospital, they...
FARONE: He got kicked out.
Whatever.
Yeah, I didn't kick you out, the nurse kicked you out.
Mr. Pacheco, you've brought a witness today, we'd like to hear from him, please stand.
State your name for the court, sir.
Matthew Hendricks.
JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Hendricks, okay.
You are
Ms. Hendricks'...
Brother.
JUDGE LAKE: ...brother.
(AUDIENCE REACTING)
JUDGE LAKE: And yet you're Mr. Pacheco's witness.
And also Mrs. Farone's fiance.
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMING)
Wow.
So, this truly is a family divided.
HENDRICKS: Yes.
MATTHEW: Yes.
It's like tearing us all apart.
JUDGE LAKE: Do you believe Mr. Pacheco has reason to
have doubt that he's the father
of Ms. Hendricks' baby?
Yes, Your Honor, I do.
AUDIENCE: Oh.
JUDGE LAKE: Really?
Why is that?
Well, when we was all living together
at the beginning of their relationship,
I was living with my sister.
And I had noticed coming back and forth from work
that there was this other man
kind of, hanging out.
But one morning when I was leaving for work,
I had noticed that this man's belongings was on the living room floor.
I don't know exactly what went on
but that had caused some suspicion.
That was different times. Like, totally different times.
He, uh, he came after that.
(STAMMERS) The ex.
He came after that.
You had 'em both.
They was... It was the...
It wasn't at the same time.
They was together.
FARONE: No.
No, it was not.
FARONE: That's a lie.
FARONE: That's so wrong.
It was totally different times.
FARONE: So wrong.
HENDRICKS: And even if it wasn't,
you're my brother, like even if... I'm not saying anything,
but why would you even say anything?
JUDGE LAKE: So, when you say
he was there in the morning, you mean...
(APPLAUSE)
You believe he spent the night.
Yeah.
JUDGE LAKE: Ms. Hendricks,
you gotta understand, your own brother...
Yeah.
JUDGE LAKE: Is telling
Mr. Pacheco that
there was another man
intermingled,
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
during the time
Yeah.
you were with him
and that he has reason to doubt.
Yeah, and that breaks my heart
because this is my brother.
PACHECO: You don't think it breaks my heart finding out if that's my baby or not?
Explain, Mr. Pacheco,
explain it, because I don't know if she feels your pain,
and I certainly see it.
(VOICE BREAKING) She don't because
I look at him every day and
there's a doubt in my head, like,
if he's not my son.
You know, I've been there for seven months.
You know, I did everything for that kid.
Bought him clothes, bought him diapers.
Yeah, there are times now that I'm not there like I used to be.
But why is that? All the rumors.
You know what I'm saying, she don't see that.
HENDRICKS: That breaks my heart because I feel
that he doesn't even treat him,
or look at him like, he looks at him so different now.
And he deserves a lot better than that.
Like, I was raised and I didn't
have my biological father around.
PACHECO: I didn't have mine either.
And I do not...
And he didn't either and I do not want my son to ever go through that.
Your Honor, look, at the point.
What my son is going through right now,
I go through that with my dad
because my dad is,
you know, denying me and my older sister.
I was never raised with a mom or a dad.
The one that raised me all my life, was my grandmother.
She gave me everything.
You know what I'm saying, and I want the same thing for him.
I want him to have me and her
in his life, know what I'm saying, because I do love her.
If I didn't love her, I wouldn't even be here right now.
I would have been like other dads and just walked out
and say, "You know, I don't even care."
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
And then, another thing too, like,
look at his eyes, he got blue eyes.
Look at my eyes, I got brown eyes.
HENDRICKS: I got green eyes.
I got dark hair.
I got green eyes.
FARONE: It comes from the Grandma.
Comes from the Grandma.
My brother don't... He has green eyes.
I mean, I don't know...
JUDGE LAKE: So, when
you look at this beautiful little boy...
I got brown skin.
...you just don't see yourself and it makes you nervous?
PACHECO: Yeah, it do.
It makes you concerned, it makes you fearful.
PACHECO: It do.
His own family think that that's not his son
due to his light hair color and his eyes being blue.
Just, for that, just to let you know...
HENDRICKS: His family
Just to let you know,
has so many people.
even your other baby daddy came and told you,
"Oh, that doesn't even look like him,
"that could be the other baby's daddy."
(AUDIENCE REACTING)
I can't control what people say
but I know who is his father.
PACHECO: Well, you don't understand how really that hurts me.
'Cause you're not in my shoes.
That's just unregarded.
HENDRICKS: I can't control what people say.
(HENDRICKS AND FARONE TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
He was in her shoes when you left her.
Why was I in her shoes?
If I'm supposed to be the woman you love...
You love me but you don't trust me...
The only person.
...or believe anything I say.
The only person in her family that likes me is him.
He's the one that stuck with me through everything.
Yeah, because I am on her side the whole time,
I'm gonna be on her side no matter what.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay, ma'am.
Yes.
Since you're talking, step up to the podium.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING AND APPLAUDING)
State your name.
Marcelina Farone.
JUDGE LAKE: And you are?
Her best friend
and Matthew... Mr. Hendricks' fiance.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
What do you know about this situation?
He was there 100%.
Me and Mr. Hendricks,
we have a seven-month-old daughter together.
(VOICE BREAKING) I see my nephew every day
growing up without his dad in his life.
He's missing "dada,"
he's missing crawlin',
he's missing the first walk.
He's missing so much out of his life.
I am there for her through thick and thin.
AUDIENCE: Aw.
When he wasn't there, buying her diapers, who was? I was.
This causes conflict between mine and Mr. Hendricks relationship.
I can't bring it up at home.
And me and my brother's relationship.
I can't bring it up at home because
I'm scared that my daughter is gonna
miss out on her father
because of the drama.
HENDRICKS: This has, like, it ruined us.
I don't think we'll ever have the relationship that we had before.
We used to all double date together.
He was there all the time.
Yeah, the ex was there some...
Well, sometimes. But he was there all the time.
We double dated!
(AUDIENCE CLAMORING)
HENDRICKS: The ex wasn't there...
He wasn't there all the time!
...with me.
He was there sometimes but they broke it off!
I'm her best friend, she tells me everything.
JUDGE LAKE: So, wait.
Everything.
JUDGE LAKE: I'm glad you stood up to testify, Ms. Farone.
(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)
Because you say
that the ex was there sometimes.
FARONE: Well, he was there like...
But he was there all the time.
HENDRICKS: In the beginning, when me and him was just talking, we didn't meet.
I was dating the ex.
Hold on one second, Ms. Hendricks.
I want to get something straight
from Ms. Farone's testimony.
Now, you said,
while she was with Mr. Pacheco...
FARONE: No.
She... He was not around when...
She was with Mr. Pacheco, the ex was not there.
JUDGE LAKE: Okay.
She broke it off.
Okay, that's not what you just said though.
MATTHEW: In the beginning stages it was...
On the record, you said,
"He was there all of the time
(LOUD CLAPPING FROM AUDIENCE)
"and the ex was there some of the times."
MATTHEW: Some times.
When they were... When they first started, yeah.
Like, for like a week.
He would try to... The ex would
still try to go...
So, Mr. Hendricks, is this the time you are talking about?
More or less, yeah.
Mr. Hendricks, do you feel like
baby Isaiah looks like Mr. Pacheco?
It's extremely hard to tell on a baby, Your Honor.
(STAMMERS) I've seen a lot of accounts.
(AUDIENCE GROANING)
Mr. Pacheco, you say
if Isaiah's not your biological child
you can't be there.
PACHECO: No.
JUDGE LAKE: You said, you can't be in a relationship with her.
There's no way I can forgive it.
(AUDIENCE CLAMORING)
I cannot imagine
a man not wanting to be in the child's life.
I can't.
He has a bond with this child.
PACHECO: Look how white Isaiah is.
FARONE: And my baby is white!
HENDRICKS: I'm white!
My baby is white, I have a seven-month-old daughter,
they are three weeks apart, me and Mr. Hendricks.
My baby is as white as can be, and look at me.
Look at her dad.
Um, look at her daddy.
HENDRICKS: It's the blue eyes which is funny,
but it's not like I got brown eyes
and he got brown eyes and our baby got blue eyes.
I got colored eyes.
JUDGE LAKE: Hoo! I am ready for the results.
And he's white though!
That's all I'm saying.
JUDGE LAKE: Jerome.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
I'm not gonna sit up and argue
about how white a baby is.
Okay.
FARONE: Hold my hand.
That's...
Hold my hand.
JUDGE LAKE: These results
were prepared by DNA Diagnostics,
and they read as follows...
In the case of Hendricks v. Pacheco
pertaining to six-month-old Isaiah.
Mr. Pacheco,
you
are his father.
WOMAN: Oh, yeah!
(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)
(HENDRICKS CHUCKLES)
That's good. That means he has a father, that's good.
I'm sorry for everything I put you through.
AUDIENCE: Aw.
JUDGE LAKE: I'm happy for all of you.
Thank you.
And I say that only to point out
that secrets, lies, and a lack of trust...
It can permeate the fabric of any relationship.
Now you have the truth.
The question is, will you use that truth
as a building block
to create a better foundation in your relationship.
This was very difficult,
but you've made it through,
you've got the truth,
and now it's time to figure out
what you wanna do for baby Isaiah's sake,
and if you don't wanna be together,
that's fine, just raise him and raise him well.
Okay?
PACHECO: Okay.
I wish you all, the best of luck.
(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)
Court is adjourned.
Um, I got something to tell you.
You know, I love you.
I'm so sorry
for everything I put you through and...
Whoa. (GIGGLES NERVOUSLY)
Will you please be my wife?
Oh, my...
Would you?
(EXCLAIMS)
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